The Concept bristles with advanced safety, entertainment, and telematics technology. Driver enhancements include integrated navigation and a hands-free cellular-phone system utilizing Blue Tooth technology. With DaimlerChrysler supporting the Sirius satellite-radio format, expect to see this feature fully integrated into the next Durango's entertainment system.
The instrument panel follows some of the same design themes of the current- generation Ram pickup, but one can not help but notice that the traditional Chrysler 1.5-DIN radio has been abandoned for a larger component dominated by a large LCD screen, looking similar to units found in Mercedes-Benz products. With this the next Durango, and other future Chrysler Group products, will be able to offer a host of advanced infotainment functions.
What some might forget, with all the recent introductions of SUVs and crossovers featuring third-row seating capabilities, that in the compact/midsize SUV category, it was in the current-generation Durango, which debuted in 1998, that first offered this now seemingly obligatory feature. The Dodge Durango Concept delivers more passenger and cargo room than ever before and provides innovative packaging that delivers seating for seven.
The safety features include side-curtain airbags for all three rows of seating, a tire-pressure-monitoring system, adjustable pedals, and standard four-wheel disc ABS. A center-mounted three-point shoulder belt is incorporated into the second-row seating area.
One obstacle for designers of the next Durango was how to get a distinctive shape out of something that's essentially two boxes and, more to the point, an oversize version of what was once called a station wagon. They were further restricted by having to get their design properly proportioned within the tight constraints of a package that needs to fit in the narrowing chasm between traditional midsize (Ford Explorer) and full-size (Ford Expedition) SUVs.
With the next-generation Durango, the Dodge Boys clearly have the class-leading Ford Explorer in its cross hairs more than ever before. Knowing much of the concept's bold new design is slated to be incorporated into the next-generation Durango (set to appear as an '04 model), we're looking to see Dodge work to close the sales gap between the models. In '02, the Durango, in the sixth year of its current design, sold 99,498 units, while the Explorer battled with the Toyota Camry for the title of the best-selling vehicle in North America. With a design that's more than two years newer than its Blue Oval rival, look for Dodge to put a sizeable dent in the difference, just as it did in 1994 in the full-size-pickup segment, with the introduction of the radically new Dodge Ram.